Juliette leaned back against her seat and shrugged.

"I haven’t done him any wrong. Only helping him do what he’s worried about. He’s been avoiding breathing directly at me. What a gentleman. But what we should be talking about is our bet—"

Jason rose to his feet and Juliette’s own brother, James followed with a nasty look on his face.

The three Js. They should form a pop group. They’ll pop off real fast with the popularity from the origin trial....

Faust pulled his trailing mind back to this moment and watched Diego, who placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder.

"We’re all stepping on each other’s toes here. Let’s be reasonable—"

Jason batted off the hand without sparing Old Dog a look.

"Mind your business, old fool."

Faust chose that moment to lean forward and stare blankly at Jason. A smile played on his lips. It wasn’t an aggressive gesture.

"That’s a bit rude."

Jason over-read it. He worried that Faust would side with Juliette just for the sake of fighting. He worried he was playing into Faust’s hands by reacting to this. He feared that Juliette and Faust were already allied.

He didn’t know enough. And didn’t make an effort to know. So why would he be sure what was happening?

This is what happens when you underestimated your opponents.

Jason turned to him. "You’re willing to pay her?"

He asked like it was unbelievable.

"Why should I pay after losing a bet?" Faust answered with a rhetorical question. "That’s how you sound. Is there any reason why you don’t want to pay?" He added innocently.

A dark look fell over Jason’s face. It felt accusatory. As if to say to Faust; so that’s where you stand?

Then he nodded and sat. "Get out of Garf’s head. I’ll pay you your damn Essence."

The change in how people viewed Jason was obvious. Even his own men sent him dark looks. Now he didn’t feel as heroic or special. He felt childish and bullheaded.

All this could have been avoided if he wasn’t unwilling to honor the bet. Win or lose you should always honor a bet. Acting coy and trying to cut Juliette out just soured even Faust’s opinion on him.

Of course if Jason chose the role of tyrant and just refused paying. He would have gained more respect from his men. It would alienate some people, but the people Jason needed on his side would admire that choice.

Faust personally would admire that choice too. As much as he hated sore losers, he liked people that could turn a loss into a small victory. And being the villain wasn’t fun for most people.

They both took out their Essence and passed it to Juliette.

Juliette balked at the twenty Essences of different types Faust dropped. "Aren’t you a bit too favored by the system?"

"It’s more about me just constantly proving that I’m the best," Faust said casually. "Hmmm... you got around forty essences from your rewards, Jason?"

Gamebreaker left twelve Essence on the table next to Faust’s own rewards. The difference in the piles wasn’t much noticeable. But Faust wasn’t done biting Jason.

To his credit, Jason just ignored Faust, staring at the cup of wine in his hand absentmindedly.

He’s planning how he’ll get his revenge. How exciting!

This was all Faust wished for. To have capable people coming for his head. What else did a man need?

He briefly glanced back at Nirvana.

The system chimed again.

[The Patrons of the Origin Trials have sent gifts to Players of Novice Village #1 of Server 513.]

A new wave of conversation and excitement rippled through the hall. Food was being served now. Its smell so delectable, Faust considered abandoning his little battle with Jason.

He waited for an offer, an extra message for the system. But there was nothing.

Both Juliette and Gamebreaker sat up with wide eyes. They read and reread what the system just sent to them.

"What?" Diego thankfully asked. "What were the gifts?"

Juliette’s eyes narrowed. "It’s... special materials. Things they said are not to be used yet. And quests. They said we should do them if we’d like to ally ourselves with their factions and gain more benefits."

"Who is they?" Faust asked, irritation creeping into his voice.

Juliette sat back with a blank look on her face. "Gods."

Absolute silence reigned in the hall. Everyone was turned towards their table in shock.

Then murmurs followed like static.

"Ok this is getting crazy."

"Does that mean the system will actually just destroy our world if we all die?!"

"Fuck! I didn’t get anything. Only the people with Schemas or systems got offers."

"The strong get stronger. This stupid game was never fair. But I’ll win. All these geniuses are going down!"

Ignoring the voices, Faust clicked his tongue. Something was wrong. There was no way he, who suggested their invasion of the gate, got no offers.

Is it a personality thing? Am I a bit too unstable for the gods? I knew I should have pretended to be normal.

Jason’s eyes were fixed on him. A hopeful and amused light flashed into those almond circles. He sat forward, saying loudly,

"Don’t tell me our fearless beast got nothing?"

Everyone turned on him. Some took up savage smiles. Juliette watched him out the side of her eyes. Diego looked ready to intervene, but Faust waved him off.

It’s nice to have someone stick up for me, but I don’t care. Insults are meaningless and Jason won’t push hard enough for us to fight.

Jason is too cautious. He’ll always choose to run before fighting. Unless the enemy is surely weaker than him.

"It seems my bad luck caught up to me," He answered. Meeting Jason’s eyes with a steady gaze. "Who made an offer to you?"

Gathering info while Jason was feeling proud would be easier.

"They call themselves the New Gods of Earth," Gamebreaker answered immediately. "They offered me a quest to safeguard the novice village by hunting particularly dangerous creatures. Maps, Health potions and other utilities they said would be important when we upgraded the Novice Village."

"Upgrade?" Diego frowned.

That means the village can provide us more functions.... That makes antagonizing people like Jason hard, if I need the village.

I’ll have to change my location if I can or the system needs to provide interesting enemy villages.

***

A/N: I will be locking maybe tmr or today. I want to get back to writing two chs a day now that I’m out of service camp and I’m feeling a bit healthier.

So I hope all the original readers are caught up. Keep supporting with Powerstones and Golden Tickets. I will drop the extra ch I promised for 10 reviews soon.

Thank you for reading!